"What
group is this?" and "How old are these girls?" were two
questions we received multiple times throughout our service outing at Franklin
Park this past Saturday. Dog-walkers, fellow volunteers, and even a
photographer from the York Neighborhood Newsletter voiced their disbelief and
appreciation for the hard work and determination of the Salish Seal group.
Our
outing began with an enthusiastic round of names and body actions to represent
how each of us was feeling during Opening Circle. We reviewed the mottos we learned during our previous outing, including Widen Your Circle, Be Prepared, and Safety
First, followed by a great explanation of our S.T.O.P Principals from a few of the
girls. We talked about the importance of both physical safety and heart safety
in this group when our motto, Build
Bridges, Not Walls, was introduced, and then introduced two new mottos, both of which would be especially alive throughout our service day: Walk Your Talk and, Our Cups
Overflow. Aimee provided a demonstration of the motto, Our Cups Overflow, filling a cup with
a splash of water for each basic need the girls called out…“Food!” “Water!”
“Shelter,” “Clothing,” “Love!” “Nature”. When all of our basic needs were
accounted for, Aimee asked the girls to share some things we have in our lives
that we don’t necessarily need. The
list grew quickly, overflowing the cup as girls shouted out everything from
toys, candy, extra clothes, key-chains, and books to vacation, pets, electronics, and sports! We
discussed how today we would be taking some of our own overflowing cups and pouring them into the cups of Franklin Park and all the animals, plants, and people
who enjoy or live in this beautiful space.
The girls then became those plants and animals as part of a skit to represent the main job
the day. Some girls became sword fern, oregon grape, and nootka rose, while
others planted themselves as red flowering current shrubs or scurried around
like squirrels and rabbits. Finally, a few girls jumped into the mix and planted
themselves as bluebells among the thriving forest. Soon the bluebells began
growing and pushing the other species out. But not for long! Some determined
and willing explorers came along and noticed these invasive (yet beautiful)
bulbs taking over the park and began pulling them out and putting them in buckets
to be taken away. This would be our job for the day!
We
gathered to help Rae (the project coordinator) schlep buckets, snacks, and gear
bins down to the path where we’d begin our work. With Hori Hori gardening
knifes and pitch-forks carefully in hand, the girls set to work uprooting
bluebell bulbs and freeing the Oregon grape, snowberry, and red flowering
current plants that were desperately trying to grow among them. And WOW can this group ever Walk their Talk and get work done! If you’ve
ever seen a colony of ants at work, that’s exactly what the Salish Seals looked
like scattered across the hillside, dirt flying, buckets filling, and enthusiastic,
encouraging, and collaborative energy rippling among them.
Finally, after a morning of hard work pulling bluebells and mulching, the girls (reluctantly) gathered for lunch. Some girls had found trash among the plants so we discussed another GEC motto, You See It, You Own It and the precaution that must be taken when picking up litter. We gathered our belongings and walked up the path to set up a lunch circle on top of the hillside where we'd spent the morning working. We took our time wandering along the trail, picking bouquets of bluebells and comfrey. During lunch, we shared acknowledgements for each other and for the earth, with some very passionate and mature comments from most of the girls about the things they observed and appreciated throughout the morning. Freya reminded us that we should all acknowledge ourselves, as well as each other, which can be hard to remember sometimes.
To conclude our day, we split into pairs (with our buddies for the day), and did a trust walk activity, which brought us back to our morning gathering spot. In our closing circle, we shared an Attitude of Gratitude and our Words of the Day: Finding Trust And Filling Cups!
Enjoy our full slideshow of the day here.
